LeMond views the positive of the situation
Following his confession of doping earlier this week, Floyd Landis has apologized to three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond for events that transpired during his trial in 2007. LeMond was set to testify about a telephone conversation he had with Landis where he claimed Landis tacitly admitted to the use of performance enhancing drugs.
On the eve of his testimony LeMond received an anonymous phone call from a man that threatened to reveal the former Tour de France champion had been molested as a child. LeMond shared that secret with Landis as an example of how secrets were destructive.
It was revealed during the trial that the phone number was traced to Landis’s personal manager and friend Will Geoghegan.
Both men told ESPN.com that they wanted to keep the details of their conversation private, but LeMond confirmed that Landis had called him Friday.
“I did have a conversation with Floyd and he did apologize for his treatment of me before and after the 2007 hearings,” LeMond told ESPN in an email.
“I accepted his apology, but that isn’t really what’s important. Sincere apologies are for those that make them, not for those to whom they are made. I hope that as a result Floyd can begin rebuilding his life.
“I also accepted his apology because his treatment of me challenged me to further confront my own issues and the pain that they were causing me. That challenge has made me a better, healthier, stronger person today than I might have otherwise been. Certainly, my 1 in 6 Foundation has been an outgrowth of that situation and has helped and will continue to help many survivors. For that I’m grateful.”
LeMond founded the 1 in 6 Foundation after his own abuse was made public. Its was set up to support men who have experienced sexual abuse as a child.
“More people should apologize, and more people should accept apologies when sincerely made,” LeMond said.